Sebastian County Election Coordinator Resigns

Sebastian County Election Coordinator Resigns

TIMES RECORD FILE PHOTO / Paul Post selects a number from a box held by Sebastian County Election Commission's assistant to election coordinator Jan Haver as former election coordinator David Mansell records the results of the ballot draw Friday, March 7, 2014. Mansell was hired in January and resigned last week.

Sebastian County is again searching for an election coordinator after Sebastian County Election Coordinator David Mansell tendered his resignation last week.

Election Commission Chairman Lee Webb said a mistake was discovered on the Republican primary ballots to be used in the May 20 primary election involving the candidates for lieutenant governor, which led to Mansell’s resignation Friday.

Mansell was hired Jan. 18 to replace retiring Election Coordinator Jerry Huff, who had agreed to remain on staff until the end of the year to assist the county in the transitional period.

“We had a problem with some ballots,” Webb said. “One of his job duties was preparing the ballots and the lieutenant governor candidates were out of order on the Republican ballot.”

At the ballot draw in March, Republican candidates for lieutenant governor secured their positions on the ballot. State Rep. Andy Mayberry drew the first ballot position,. Rep. Debra Hobbs drew the second position, and Congressman Tim Griffin the third position. Webb acknowledged that the error has been corrected and the ballots are now accurate.

Webb said Huff discovered the error last Thursday as the county was preparing plates to print the ballots.

“Even though it wasn’t his job anymore, Jerry decided to go back and proofread all the ballots and that’s when he spotted the error,” Webb explained. “He asked (Mansell) about it and he admitted that it was his mistake, that he’d messed up. They were already at the printers and we had to stop the printers from going any further, and they worked all day Friday and Saturday to get it fixed and sent them back to printer.”

Webb said the expense of the error was minor, as the only cost to the county was a little overtime pay.

Webb said Mansell was not asked to resign, but did so on his own.

“He wasn’t asked to and I hadn’t even talked to him to get the full extent, and I don’t think he talked to (County Judge) David (Hudson) or anyone else before he did it,” Webb said. “It was a mistake, but it was a mistake that we shouldn’t really have. We’d had some other issues prior to that, such as not alerting the media to a meeting, and some other minor things. It’s a tough job and a tough one to learn on the fly and once he got there and got into it, I think he just realized that he may have been over his head.”

When reached for comment Thursday, Mansell said the job was not a good fit.

“I came from a medical background, and this was just a whole different world,” Mansell said. “It just wasn’t a good match for me.”

Hudson said the county will reopen the hiring process and will move quickly to hire a replacement.

“I would intend to begin that now; as far as when we can bring it to a conclusion will be based on the the interest in the position and the qualified candidates,” Hudson said.

Hudson said he will work with the election commission and the county clerk during the the interviewing and hiring process.

Hudson said the position is part-time and pays $27,000 annually with benefits.

Webb said Huff has agreed to continue to stay on and work with the county in the transition period.